Morgan Stanley Upgrades Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) to “Overweight”

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) was upgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $500.00 target price on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their prior target price of $430.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 19.49% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $418.44 on Tuesday. Ulta Beauty has a 1 year low of $318.17 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $405.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $385.00. The company has a market capitalization of $19.40 billion, a PE ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.07 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.93 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 118.4% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 151.5% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Company Profile

Ulta Beauty, Inc operates as a specialty beauty retailer in the United States. The company offers branded and private label beauty products, including cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, skincare, bath and body products, professional hair products, and salon styling tools through its Ulta Beauty stores, shop-in-shops, Ulta.com website, and its mobile applications.